Se necesita un milagro - what is the rhythm in the middle?

E

El Conguero

Hi all,

I was listening (and jammin' along on my congas) to some of my favorite salsa songs and found that in the middle of Se necesita un milagro" by Domingo Quiñones (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPrIvg6W53k) there is a rhythm unlike anything I've ever tried to play b4. It's not plena, guaguancó, a caballo, danzón, merengue or cumbia. It's not bomba as I know it, and it's definitely not son or cha-cha. So if anyone knows what it is I think it's a rhythm I'd like 2 learn. :D
 
El Conguero said:
there is a rhythm unlike anything I've ever tried to play b4.
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Are you talking about hand percussion, drumkit or singing? Singing is rap; drums play dancehall (salsa bass plays the same groove a lot). Conga pattern I don't know, but seems similar to popular variations one plays on 3 side of clave. What a coincidence, since clave plays "dancehall" there. :)
 
I was talking about that overall rhythm, particularly congas but also the other percussion. I didn't hear a drumkit there but I'll have to listen for it again.

So he incorporated rap & dancehall into this one, huh? I don't know anything about dancehall but I like the change in rhythm and the "rappin'" going on there. It might be fun to mess with transitioning in and out of rhythms like that and doing something similar w/my own stuff. B-)

But anyway, you're all thinkin' it's "dancehall"? I always thought that was a Jamaican thing (like reggae) and not a Latin rhythm at all (i.e. I always thought it used steel-drums and stuff, not congas and timbales). But then again that may be why I've never heard it before :D Thanks.
 
I don't think of dancehall as being a "latin" rhythm either but it IS from the tropics... And why not mix them up.

That dominant "tresillo" pattern it seems did originate in Havana in the c17th IIRC and was called "tango" (ned sublette again)

/edit: no it wasn't the "tango" was a 5-beat pattern, see later post.
 
Right on :)

sweavo said:
I don't think of dancehall as being a "latin" rhythm either but it IS from the tropics... And why not mix them up.

That dominant "tresillo" pattern it seems did originate in Havana in the c17th IIRC and was called "tango" (ned sublette again)
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Oh don't get me wrong - I agree. Why not mix them up? We're already doing that with guaguancó, plena, bomba and a caballo rhythms among others. One question though, what exactly is "tresillo"? I saw that somewhere esle on here but I've never really heard of it before then.
 
Well, all Carribean music has influenced each other, especially since radio and recordings. This rythmical pattern is found all over the place, but dancehall and tango argentino might be the most popular uses.
Look in this page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clave_(rhythm)
I'm pretty sure you're familiar with it. Just accent first, fourth and seventh stroke from eight and loop it :)

My take is that in dancehall it came from hip-hop. A second beat got shifted forward and it swung differently.
 
The musicians who played the Cuban contradanzas were black. To the simple monophonic melody on the page they put their own interpretation, which was not written down. They added to the contradanza the underlying rhythmic cell that came to be known as tango. This cell is written (using a 2/4 time signature, though it could as easily be written in cut time):

tango.png


This rhythmic cell would infect the music of the world. With the name tango already applied to it in Cuba, it is identical with the rhythmic cell of the later Argentine tango ... As it traveled the cell acquired a different name, which, to use the jargon of a later time, branded it as Cuban: the habanera. The two names were applied indistinctly to the same rhythm.

An important variant of this cell was achieved by tying the second note of the habanera to the third. That is, the Cuban musicians put more of a bump on the and of two by laying out on the downbeat of three. This cell is known in Cuba as the tresillo:

tresillo.png


Tresillo means "triplet" so it's a misnomer to call this asymmetrical figure a tresillo, but it's the name that stuck. In the bass, this figure was commonplace in Cuba before it was commonplace in the United States. It's the figure that you hear in some styles of boogie-woogie, in countless rhythm and blues records, and, of course, as a fundamental part of the rock-and-roll feel.
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-- Ned Sublette, "Cuba and its Music"
 
Actually, I had already read this; the thing is, I don't know sheet music. So while I get the "triplet" thing it's still a little vague. But anyway hos is it used in modern salsa?
 
Learn. It's not hard to read rhythms in music and it is WELL worth it. It opens up a world of information.

A triplet is where you play an even three notes in the space of 2.
The tresillo is exactly like the 3-side of clave and is use EVERYWHERE.

Code: 
1  .  2  .  3  .  4  .   <-count in 4/4
o  .  .  .  o  .  .  .   <- minims / half notes / chord beats / downbeat
o  .  .  o  .  .  o  .   <- tresillo. Note lengths 1.5 ,1.5, 1 = 4
o  .  . o.  .  .o .  .   <- triplet. Evenly spaced. As if the music were in 3/4
o   .   o   .   o   .    <- beats in 3/4
1   .   2   .   3   .    <- count in 3/4

/edit: I started learning musical theory with these books http ://www. amazon.co.uk/AB-Guide-Music-Theory-Vol/dp/1854724460 I have leisurely got to grade 2 in a year and it's been really worthwhile.
 
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